Untitled
by Lovestruck45
Summary: After a horrible date with Sam, Derek comforts Casey and kisses her while doing so. What will happen from there? Feedback please this is my first fan fic and suggestions for a title are welcome...
1. Moonlit Kiss

She was crying on our porch steps when I found her. I'd like to blame it on that one small fact; the fact that I cannot stand to see a girl cry. However, as good an excuse as that is I don't think that that is the cause of my actions.

I had just gotten home from hockey practice and was walking towards the front door when I saw her sitting there. Not noticing her sad demeanor at first I sauntered past her "so I noticed Sam wasn't at practice today… Hot date?" I said smirking at her.

She didn't respond, no witty retort to my sarcasm, no tongue lashing about how her love life was none of my business, no evil glare before she stormed off to her room; she just sat there in silence. "Awww what's wrong Case? Hot date not go so well?" I said in a childlike voice in order to get a rise out of her. That's when I realized she was crying she never looked up at me she remained motionless staring at the crack in the bottom step when I heard her sniffle. Instantly I felt like an ass.

"Come on Casey I was only joking. I didn't mean to make you cry" I said halfheartedly

Nothing was heard but another muffled sniffle and then a heavy sigh. I dropped my hockey bag at the doorstep and walked back down the steps so that I was standing in front of her. " Casey?" I said waiting for her to reply. She had her arms wrapped tightly around her waist and just continued to stare at the ground. After moments of silence I gently lifted her chin to bring her eyes in contact with my own. It was then that I noticed the redness on her cheek. A welt was beginning to form in the shape of a handprint I was sure there would be a bruise there come morning.

"God Casey what happened to you?" I said instantly feeling a twinge of guilt for my earlier statements about her date with Sam "Did Sam do this?" I asked stroking the redness with my hand as softly as possible until she winced in pain. She sat there silently with tears running down her cheeks her eyes looking everywhere but my own. " Casey come on answer me before I go get Nora" I said my voice raising a little with concern.

"It was my fault" She said quietly as began making my way back up the steps to the house.

"What was your fault?" I said sighing and taking a seat next to her on the steps. It was dark out and was beginning to grow cold. I took off my leather jacket and placed it around her shoulders. She seemed to nestle into the warmth as the jacket surrounded her.

"I provoked him. I should have just kept my mouth shut." She said never taking her eyes of the leaf she was now crumbling beneath her feet.

"You provoked what? You mean Sam did hit you?" growing angry at the thought.

"He didn't hit me he just slapped me a little… you know to get the point across" She said now looking me in the eye

" Casey there are better ways to get your point across and I'm sorry but that does not look like he slapped you a little." I said pointing to the now fully swollen welt on her cheek.

"Oh shut up Derek since when do you care so much about me? Remember I'm klutzilla your annoying grade grubber step sister you never even wanted talking to your best friend much less dating him." she stood up shouting at me

"You know something, you're absolutely right! Why am I wasting my time out here with you when I could be doing better things? Truth is maybe you did deserve it maybe I should go call Sam and congratulate him for finding some way to shut you up. God knows nobody else can." I shouted back getting up and walking toward the door. I walked inside and threw my hockey gear against the wall in frustration. Why had I let her get to me so much? Why couldn't I just tell her how I really feel? I stormed into the kitchen and reached for a soda from the refrigerator when Lizzie came into the kitchen.

"Have you seen Casey? Mom and George took Marti to her back to school night and I'm supposed to tell her to order us a pizza or something for dinner and stay with Edwin and me until they get home at around 9:30 they will pick up something for themselves while they are out" She explained

"Uh I think she was outside talking to Emily I'll order the pizza and then I'll give her the message" I said picking up the phone and dialing.

I ordered the pizza and walked over to the freezer grabbing an ice pack from to door. After wrapping the icepack up in a towel I walked outside to find Casey sitting in the corner of the porch with her head resting against the railing looking up at the stars. I sighed and began walking towards her.

"So… Dad and Nora went to Marti's school and wanted you to order dinner for us and stay with Edwin and Liz until they get home" I said breaking the silence. She started to get up to go inside "I took care of dinner and told Lizzie that you were out here talking to Emily, She and Ed are in her room working on something for school." She sat back down as I said this while handing her the ice pack.

"Thanks" She mumbled quietly taking the ice pack from me and wincing as the cold came into contact with her swollen cheek.

"Look Casey I'm sorry about what I said before" I said sitting down next to her almost expecting her to hit me and tell me to leave her alone. When she didn't I took that as a good sign and made myself more comfortable next to her. "I was just trying to help you and you lashed out at me like that so I didn't know what to do and I reacted with anger but none of it was true" I said staring up at the stars. "So… You… Wanna tell me what happened?" I asked glancing at her.

She had started to cry again. "Why Derek? So you can use it against me? Princess Casey doesn't know how to keep her boyfriend happy perfect at everything but having a boyfriend. I can see your mind reeling with witty nicknames devised to humiliate me already" She rambled looking at me with sadness in her eyes.

I had never noticed how beautiful her crystal blue eyes were until that moment. The reflection of the moon shone in her eyes as she looked at me waiting for me to say something. Her face was lit up by the night sky; she looked so innocent sitting there curled up against the railing. Her hair was blowing gently in the cool night breeze. I couldn't help but notice how gorgeous she was, without even trying. What little makeup she had been wearing had been washed off by her tears and her eyes were rimmed with redness from crying however she still looked beautiful. How could I not have noticed how breathtaking she was before this moment? Guilt started to boil up in my stomach. The past month I had been getting this uneasy feeling in my gut whenever Casey would walk into the room. I would feel incredibly jealous for some reason at the mention of Sam's name, I wanted to be the guy Casey constantly talked about, the guy who got to hold her hand when we walked through the halls, the guy who got to kiss her goodnight after a Saturday night movie. Though I knew none of those things could ever happen. I shouldn't feel this way about my stepsister, although I had never really thought of her as a sister. I guess to be honest in the past month I discovered that somehow amongst all that hate I had actually fallen in love with Casey McDonald, my step-sister. Of course I was in no rush to tell her this since she would have called me a freak and slapped me before inevitably ratting me out to our parents. But when you look at the details which I have memorized in order to convince myself that these feelings are not completely wrong; I have only known Casey for about two years, I have never thought of her as related much less a sister, and she hates me anyway so there's no point in risking humiliation. Derek Venturi does not get humiliated and Derek Venturi does not get rejected; then again Derek Venturi does not fall in love either. It still somehow seemed wrong. Casey sniffled a little bringing my attention back to what she had just said.

"What makes you think I would hold this against you? I never mean anything I say about you seriously its just jokes you know all in fun like when you kept calling me Dereka for like 2 weeks after Sam told you about my nickname?" I nudged her trying to make her smile… unsuccessfully. Her face grew more depressed at the mention of his name. I sighed "Come on Case what happened? You never know I might be able to help" I said nudging her again.

"Yeah right you'll just agree with him. He was right." She said looking away from me and down at her feet as she hugged her knees to her chest.

"Well… You'll never know until you tell me… Come on can I guess?" I said leaning towards her "You had a fight about hockey? No you don't care about hockey… you had a fight about him not spending enough time with you? No he pretty much spends all his time with you… you had a fight about you hanging out with Emily? Come on Casey what was it I am out of ideas here" I said finally. Casey glanced at me before finally turning her face towards me.

"Fine I'll tell you. But you have to promise me you wont laugh at me" Casey said sighing.

"Cross my heart" I said motioning to my chest

" Sam and I went to the drive in tonight. We left the drive in and came home. We parked at the park down the street to talk and ummm… make out" Casey said turning red with embarrassment as she glanced at me "We started kissing and it became very clear that Sam wanted to do more than just make out. He started trying to take off my clothes and I pushed him off. So we started kissing again and he started trying to undress me again. I pushed him off again this time harder than before and he grew angry with me. He told me he was tired of me acting so prudish and innocent, we had been dating for over six months so he wanted to move to…the next step. I told him that I wasn't ready for the next step and he should respect that."

"So he slapped you because you didn't want to have sex?" I said looking at her in disbelief

"No, I got out of the car and sat down on the swings he followed me and we started arguing about it again. He told me that I was nothing but a spoiled princess who always had to have my way and I should be happy that he wants to have sex with me because I am such a frigid bitch that nobody else in their right mind would want me" She was now sobbing and gasping for breaths between her words. I sat there stunned by what she was telling me, an ache in my heart starting growing worse as I watched her cry unable to calm her pain.

" Casey… I'm" I started but was cut off by her continuing with her story

"He said that I should feel lucky that he wanted to be with me because he could get any girl in school since he hung out with you, and that he was tired of wasting his time with me for nothing…he said that you were right when you told him not to date me because I was a freak" Casey gasped for breath before continuing. "I told him that he didn't know what he was talking about and he couldn't get any other girls if his life depended on it because he was too much of a pussy to talk to them much less ask them out. I told him that it didn't matter if he was friends with you because he wouldn't as much as look at a girl without asking your permission. I told him he was a loser and he shouldn't be so proud of constantly walking in your shadow and that it was time he realized that as hard as he might try he could never be you… that's when he slapped me. He slapped me across the face and got in his car and left me to walk home from there" She broke down once more after finishing her story.

I didn't know what to do. A wave of anger rushed over me. I wanted so badly to drive as fast as I could to Sam's house and pummel him for saying those things to her, for making her feel this way, best friend or not; I wanted to kill him for laying his hand on her. I looked over at her small form shaking from sobbing. I slid closer to her and put my arms around her pulling her into me. She sobbed into my chest as I stroked her hair whispering to her "Shhhh it's okay, it'll be okay Casey"

After what seemed like forever, Casey finally calmed down. She hiccupped for air as I released my hold on her. "Why are you doing this? Why are you being so nice to me? You hate me" She said between hiccups as she slid away from my hold. I shivered instantly at the distance that was now between us.

"I guess… I mean… I don't hate you Casey" I said looking deep into her eyes, those beautiful blue eyes.

"Don't lie to me Derek, I know you hate me" She said beginning to take my jacket off of her shoulders and hand it to me. I waved it off motioning for her to keep it on.

"I don't hate you Casey… I just… Don't know how I feel about you" I said lying to her.

"Listen Casey for what it's worth Sam is an idiot; he's a moron for treating you that way. No guy should ever lay their hands on a girl; especially a girl like you. You're not the lucky one because he wanted to be with you, he's the lucky one because you wanted to be with him and if he's smart he'll come begging for your forgiveness and realize what an amazing person you really are I mean you're ridiculously gorgeous, you're too smart for your own good, you're caring, you deal his love for hockey and stupid video games, and seriously you're like the perfect girlfriend." I said averting my eyes from hers hoping that she wouldn't noticing I was blushing in embarrassment.

"You have to say those things because you're my step brother" She said dismissing my compliments

"Actually I shouldn't say those things… because I'm your step brother" I said finally looking her in the eyes

"Oh" she said breaking eye contact and looking up at the sky "But did you mean them? I mean You have never said one nice thing about me and now you say all these things that are so incredibly… sweet" she said softly as she brought her gaze back to my own. There they were those beautiful blues eyes burning into mine asking me for the truth, begging me to tell the truth. Then all of the sudden it happened. It was like a magnetic force was pulling me to her I couldn't stop it even if I wanted to which I didn't. All of the sudden I was kissing her gently and timidly; afraid of what she would do. I expected her to slap me, curse at me, anything but what she actually did. She kissed me back. it was soft and gentle but full of emotion. I was the first to pull away; eyes closed not wanting to open for fear that it had all been a dream. Slowly I opened my eyes watching her as she squirmed uncomfortably and looked at me in shock.


	2. What Was that?

"What was that?" she asked quietly to herself

"umm… a kiss" I whispered softly touching my lips which were still tingling with ecstasy.

"Obviously I know it was a kiss Derek… why? Why was it a kiss" She said now growing agitated. Here came that anger I was dreading. In one… two… three…

"You can't kiss me I mean I'm your sister. What were you thinking?" She shoved me as she got up and began pacing the porch

"STEP-sister, we're not really related" I corrected her as I pushed myself to my feet

"Look Derek I can't do this right now. I can't deal with things with Sam and deal with your sudden hormonal breakdown all at once. You kissed me out of pity okay fine now let's just pretend it didn't happen so that we can go back to our normal roles of despising each other." She said suddenly stopping to look at me.

I looked at her pained and somewhat irritated. "A hormonal breakdown! I had a hormonal breakdown?" I asked her my voice raising more than I had intended.

"Well what else could you call it? Kiss me out of nowhere without any warning and might I add not provoked in any way" she scolded as she crossed her arms across her chest.

"Out of nowhere? No warning?" I scoffed now mimicking her body language "Oh please you knew I was going to kiss you and you had plenty of time to stop me" I shook my head at her my voice becoming steady

"How was I supposed to know you were going to act like the male chauvinist you are and take advantage of my situation like that!" she shouted at me

"You know what call it what you want Casey; me being a pig, a hormonal breakdown, whatever; but you're forgetting one very important detail here" I pointed out walking towards her

"I am?" She questioned "And what is that?" She was now looking at the ground I got the feeling she was trying to do everything but look my way

"You let me do it! You did you let me kiss you. You didn't pull away, push me away, scream or hit me; as a matter of fact you kissed me back!" I said moving towards her speaking quietly enough that we would not be heard by any passer bys.

"I did not" she said glaring at me

"Oh you did too. You didn't even pull away in fact I was the one who pulled away" I said now walking towards her

"Well I… I mean I was in shock. I mean it's not everyday that your step brother has a meltdown or whatever this is and kisses you. I mean do you realize the ripple effect that your actions could have on our lives?" She said now shouting at me

"Well excuse me for thinking that a kiss is just a kiss it was a momentary sudden and believe me fleeting impulse" I said rolling my eyes and walking towards the edge of the porch in an attempt to flee this embarrassing confrontation.

"Get real Derek a kiss is definitely not just a kiss. Especially when it's you kissing me. Is this some kind of sick joke?" she shouted at me. I stopped and turned on my heels walking back towards her.

"A joke?" I scoffed "you think I would put myself through this humiliation for a joke? No Casey" I said rubbing my forehead which was no throbbing from stress "This is not a joke as much as I would like to pretend it is; I kissed you because I wanted to, it felt right, I liked it" I was now leaning against the porch railing next to where she had positioned herself. "can you honestly tell me you didn't feel anything?"

"Seriously you're asking me if I felt anything when my step brother was kissing me? Are you high?" She glared at me

I threw my hands up in frustration, "Fine let's just drop it and forget it ever happened. I'm sorry! It wont happen again" I said finally giving up the fight

"Okay… so we… just pretend it didn't happen… okay" She said and got up and walked into the house before entering the house she turned to me and asked me "Oh and Derek… do you think you could not say anything to Sam about tonight? Let me handle it? Please?"

I inhaled a deep breath before answering her "Sure… I guess" I said with my jaw clenched

I walked into the house and straight to my room without saying another word. Edwin came to get me for dinner when the pizza arrived but I opted to remain in my room playing my computer games. About an hour later the phone rang. I answered to hear Sam's voice on the other line. "D man is Casey home? I kinda need to talk to her" He said. It took everything I had not to yell at him over the phone, but I stayed true to my promise to Casey. I exited my room and knocked on her bedroom door.

"Come in" she shouted from inside. I opened the door and remained standing in the doorway as she turned her attention to me. "Phone… it's Sam" I said quietly tossing her the phone and walking back into my room shutting the door. A half an hour later there was a light knock at my door before I could reply she entered my room sitting on the edge of my bed. "So he explained what happened" she said pausing for me to respond. When I didn't she continued "Sam has been having some personal troubles with his home life and he has been frustrated and preoccupied and he simply wanted to find some way to feel better about things. He wasn't in any way trying to pressure me at all and he certainly did not mean to lay a hand on me. He just got caught up in the argument and lost control. But he's apologized and promised nothing like that will ever happen again and everything is fine now." She said all in one breath

"Hmmm good for you guys" was all I could manage, never taking my eyes off of the computer screen.

"So… I just wanted to tell you the good news before I went to bed…. And now I have so… goodnight" she said getting up and walking towards the door.

"Night" I mumbled as she walked out closing the door behind her

Switch to Casey's Point of View

An entire month had gone by and Derek had barely spoken to me. He would speak to me only when necessary at school avoiding me until lunch when Sam would convince him to eat with us and at home he would pick little fights with me I guess to keep our family from noticing any change. Sam and Derek's relationship had not even been affected, mostly my fault I guess for asking Derek not to say anything to Sam, but still I couldn't help but wish he had shown some sort of concern regarding the event.

Sam and I were doing great. There had been no more incidents, not even any small little arguments or disagreements I accepted his apology; I knew better than anyone how difficult it is to deal with stress at home so I forgave him and we moved on from there. But somehow my feelings for Sam had changed. Not because of what happened between he and I, more so because of what happened between Derek and I. I found myself thinking of Derek when I should have been thinking of Sam.


	3. Please Write Back

Chapter 3

One night in particular, Sam and I were on our doorstep. He was dropping me off after a date, he went to kiss me goodbye and I was all of the sudden pulled into a flash back of the night Derek kissed me in that very spot. I was kissing Sam but it was as if I were kissing Derek. Why was my mind wandering to him like this? And why was I almost wishing that it were him kissing me instead of Sam. After saying goodnight to Sam I entered the house and after saying goodnight to Mom and George, laughing with Edwin about how stupid a show he had been watching was, kissing Marti goodnight, and sitting and talking with Lizzie for awhile about how her day had been I walked towards my room to get ready for bed as I walked passed Derek's room I could hear him typing away at his computer. After changing into a pair of pajama bottoms and a pink tank top I sat down at my computer and started to check my email. I started sifting through the many spam emails I had received and one of the emails I had received that night caught my eye. It was from _Hockeymaster45 _I started reading.

_You don't really know who I am. Or at least I don't think that you know who I am. I mean you know me, but you won't know this is me when you receive this. Anyway I have these things that I want to tell you, because I can no longer keep them to myself without the risk of going insane. So hear me out. Don't close this email until you have heard everything I have to say, please, until I have told you everything I have wanted to tell you for weeks now, everything that I'm sure you could live without hearing. Especially from me. but as I said I can no longer lay awake at night with thoughts of you running through my head without you knowing those thoughts are there. So here I go…_

_I watch you walk through the halls of our school everyday, and everyday as I watch you I wonder. I wonder if you realize how absolutely gorgeous you are. I wonder if your boyfriend knows exactly how lucky he is just to be in your presence. I wonder if you know that when you're nervous you chew on your lower lip a little, which I think is absolutely adorable. I wonder what you are thinking when you pass me in the halls. I wonder if you even notice that you've passed me. I wonder what it would be like to hold you in my arms the way your boyfriend does. I wonder if you would ever feel the same about me. I watch you and I wonder and that's all I do all day. Yeah there are other conversations I have with other people but those go unnoticed. They don't rank very high up there on important conversations for the day. The only conversation that counts is the one I have mentally, inside my head. The conversation in which I ask you all these things that I wonder. _

The email was simply signed

_There is no disguise which can hide love for long where it exists._

I sat at my computer wondering who could have written such a beautiful email. My mind pointed towards Derek. But Derek could never say those things and especially could never feel those things about me. I mean Derek hated the idea of writing a love letter. Once when Sam had left a note on my locker he had made a comment about how "Extremely Chickish" it had been. Somehow I still had the feeling that Derek was involved with this. And somewhere deep inside of me I almost wished he was. I decided that regardless of whom the mystery emailer was I was going to respond to them in order to discover their identity. After sitting there for minutes thinking about what to write, I responded.

_HockeyMaster, _

_All I can say is wow. Someone has left me speechless and I am never speechless. So I know you? Have I spoken to you? Do I see you often? How is it that you seem to know so much about me, enough to have such strong feelings for me, yet I feel I know nothing about you? Tell me who you are? What do you do? Are you someone I know or someone I have yet to meet? As you know I do have a boyfriend and cannot make any promises of love but my mind and heart are telling me that I should respond to you and tell you how I feel about the things that you wrote. _

_I have never received a letter that made me completely fall in love with the words on the paper or in this case the screen. You wrote words that I have used everyday but never seemed to have meaning until now. My heart leapt at every comma, every period, every space between the words my heart was aching for more. How is there a guy who is such a talented writer, somewhat a poet who passes me everyday and I have not noticed him? I have only had a guy tell me that I was gorgeous once before and yet still I never believed it until you made me feel it. In such a very short email you made me feel everything I have ever thought that a relationship should feel like things I have not felt in my current relationship, things I have never felt. I don't know you but I want to. _

_Please Write Back _

_BeautifulDreamer77_


	4. Put me on a pedestal

After responding to the email I decided to begin working on our reading assignments. I gathered my pajamas and walked to the bathroom to change for bed.

_Derek's POV_

I had been pacing my floor cursing at myself for writing that extremely lame email when I heard Casey walk out of her room and into the bathroom. As soon as I heard her turn on the water I curiosity got the best of me and I decided to sign back in, in hopes that she had responded. After signing in I saw that she had in fact responded. I began reading her email and was pleasantly surprised that she hadn't seemed to figure out that I had written the email. After reading the email three times to make sure there were no hidden signs that she might know it had been me, I decided to write back.

_Casey, _

_I find it surprising that you have only ever been told you were gorgeous once before. Maybe because your beauty is the kind that intimidates. Trust me that is not a bad thing it just means that you are so beautiful that the thought of telling you is nerve racking because there are not words that can describe what I truly mean. I must admit I didn't think you would respond. I didn't take you as the kind of girl who took a lot of chance on secret admirers. _

_You do know me. I actually see and speak to you everyday. Trust me I'm no poet. I think that at the touch of love everyone becomes a poet. I am not so great with words in person though. I see you and everything I want say stays locked away and instead these ridiculous things come out. So I say nothing of how I feel for you because there is nothing that I can say that would describe how I feel as perfectly as you deserve it. _

_Speaking of poetry I actually wrote a poem. And trust me this is a big thing because as I said I am no poet. I'm not a writer of any sort but I figured since you inspired me enough to pick up a pen and write it you should be able to read it. So here it goes. _

_Have you ever fell in love but knew they didn't care?_

_Have you ever felt like crying but knew you'd get nowhere?_

_Have you ever watched them walk away not wanting them to go? _

_And whisper softly "I love you" not wanting them to know,_

_You've cried all night in misery and almost gone insane._

_There's nothing else in this world that causes so much pain, _

_If I could choose between love and death I think I'd rather die _

_Love is fun but it hurts too much and the price you pay is high_

_So I say don't fall in love, you'll be hurt before it's through, _

_You see my friend I ought to know, _

_I fell in love with you. _

_I'll end it with that in hopes that you like it and decide to write back._

I hit send and then shut of my computer. I climbed into bed and lay there in silence wondering if it she would write back.

_Back to Casey's POV_

I was just finishing up what reading I was going to do for the night when I heard a quiet "You've got mail" coming from my computer screen.

My eyes couldn't help but water as I read the words on the screen. The email ended with a simple but powerful quote with no signature as to who had sent it though I now had my suspicions as to whom it was from.

"_The hardest thing in life is to watch the person you love, love someone else. Seeing that look in their eyes knowing that they have never looked at you with such love, such a sense of wanting, needing and desire, then to have them walk away never knowing that that is the way you look at them."_

I sat there a moment contemplating what to do. My heart was telling me to go talk to Derek ask him if he was the person who sent me this beautiful poem, but my head was telling me not to. As always I listened to my head. I turned out my lights, crawled into bed and attempted sleep. My mind was stuck on the email and the person behind it. It had to be Derek. The email brought my mind back to the feelings I had felt while I was kissing Sam. How I had imagined I was kissing Derek, how I had wanted it to be Derek. Then my mind took a trip back to the night Derek kissed me on the front porch. Though I didn't want to admit it at the time, he had been right all along. I had a feeling that he was about to kiss me only seconds before his lips actually touched mine, however I had not done a thing to stop him. I could have pushed him away or slapped him or yelled at him, god knows I have never been afraid to yell at Derek Venturi; but I did none of those things. I let him kiss me, I even kissed him back. I remember feeling safe and content while he kissed me. My mind wasn't reeling with incessant questions like it generally did while I was kissing Sam; instead I was completely unthinking and free from care. I got lost on a cloud of emotion where only he and I existed but suddenly found myself plummeting back to reality when he pulled away. All of the sudden my mind was swarming with thoughts and feelings about how unwelcome any romantic feelings I might have felt for him would be. Even if he and I did have some sort of feelings for each other, our parents would surely not approve of our acting on them. I lay awake for hours thinking about Derek and how I felt about him, the emails I had been receiving and how they had to be from Derek, and Sam and how I no longer felt anything romantic towards him. I decided that night that I would break up with Sam the next day at school I simply could not continue to be with them while I was wishing he was his best friend.

The next morning I quickly left the house not waiting to catch a ride from Derek like I usually did. Instead I rushed out to meet Emily at the bus stop. My attempts to avoid Derek were unsuccessful as I walked into school I saw him standing next to my locker.

"Uh hey" I walked up to my locker avoiding looking at him by starting to enter the code right away.

"Hey" he said. I could see out the corner of my eye that he was looking at me quizzically "Uh you forgot your chemistry book on the kitchen counter, Nora asked me to bring it to you. Are you okay?" He asked suddenly as I took the book from him mumbling "thank you" while still avoiding eye contact.

"Um yeah why wouldn't I be?" I asked beginning to sift through the things in my backpack in order to keep my eyes occupied. I was afraid that if I looked him in the eye he would see something there that I was trying to pretend did not exist. I was falling in love with my step brother.

"No reason I guess, you're just acting weird." He said waving to Sam who was walking down the hallway towards us.

"Oh well I guess I'm just tired that's all. See you later" I said as I hurriedly walked to my class trying to avoid Sam

I managed to make it until lunch without bumping into Sam or Derek. Emily and I walked into the crowded cafeteria and I spotted Sam sitting at a table with Derek and the rest of the hockey team. He stood up and walked towards us when he saw us standing in the doorway.

"Hey, Hey Emily" He said as he gave me a kiss on the cheek.

"Hey" Emily and I both said in unison

"So Casey where ya been all day?" Sam asked pulling me off to the side

"Um I've been busy had a lot of work to catch up on" I said looking in Derek's direction Sam started telling me a story about his day and I must have been staring at Derek while he was doing so because all of the sudden I noticed Derek looking in my direction. As soon as he realized I had noticed this he gave me one of his famous Derek Venturi smirks and a little head nod before standing up and walking towards the exit. After Derek left I sat down with Sam and explained to him that I felt that we had been growing apart and I thought that we should end our relationship but continue to be good friends. He took it very well. Almost as if he had wanted the same thing. I didn't see Sam for the rest of the afternoon. I saw Derek a couple of times but he did not mention Sam at all so I assumed Sam had not told him yet.

That afternoon I arrived home and sat on the couch watching TV with Lizzie and Edwin when Derek stormed in from hockey practice.

"Casey do you think you could stop distracting Sam before practice? He didn't make a single goal today and he couldn't block to save his life" He ranted as he threw his gear on the floor

Although I had been the one to break up with Sam it instantly upset me and I ran up to my room.

A few minutes later Derek knocked on my door and walked in without waiting for an answer.

"Hey, I take it I said something wrong?" He said walking over to lean on my desk

"Sam and I broke up" I stated flatly

"Oh I'm sorry. Did he say why?" He asked me now sitting on top of the desk.

"I broke up with him actually" I said playing with the edge of the comforter on my bed "I just didn't feel anything anymore" I mumbled quietly

"Oh" he said quietly there was a long period of silence afterwards "So why are you so upset?" he finally asked getting up and sitting at the edge of my bed.

"I don't know I guess because I think I might have made a mistake I guess." I breathed a sigh with my confession "I mean yeah I didn't really like him like that anymore but that's not even why I broke up with him I broke up with him for this stupid reason which I shouldn't have and now I've ruined everything."

"Well, if you didn't break up with Sam because you weren't into him anymore than why did you?" Derek asked me looking me deep in the eyes.

"Because someone else made me feel wanted and Sam just makes me feel like he's with me because I'm there not because he wants to be. It's like we stay together because it's easier than being apart. But when I'm with Sam I'm not klutzilla, or the grade grubber, I'm just Casey, Sam's girlfriend. And I like not being the object of every joke at school, maybe I should have just stayed with him because now people are going to remember who I really am" I said getting up and walking to sit at my computer

"Or maybe people will see the real Casey." Derek said standing up and walking towards the door

"What do you mean?" I turned around in my chair

He stopped at the door and sighed before turning back to me looking me in my eyes "Maybe they'll see the Casey who is absolutely gorgeous, she's smart, she's fun, she's caring. Maybe everyone will see that you are this really amazing girl who deserves to be put on a pedestal by whatever guy you're with, not kept down here with all of us normal people. Sam didn't protect you from everyone seeing who you really are Casey… he kept people from seeing who you really are because all you became was "Sam's girlfriend". Derek sighed again looking at the floor for a moment

"But I don't want to be that girl who is put on a pedestal; it's too far to fall when they realize I don't belong there." I said turning back around to my computer

"You belong there Case" was all he said before walking out

I sat there staring into space thinking about what Derek had said a few minutes later mom called everyone down for dinner. I took my usual seat across from Derek I was the last person to arrive at the table and Lizzie and Derek seemed to be involved in a discussion about Lizzie playing hockey again.

"Come on Lizzie you were starting to get pretty good there when I was training you" Derek said reaching across the table to retrieve the peas.

"I am not going to play hockey again. I'll probably suck even worse because I haven't played in so long" Lizzie said pleading with mom and Derek.

"Lizzie I think you should give it a try besides I already signed you up. Maybe Derek would be willing to coach you again" Mom said looking towards Derek

"Sure I mean after all I am the hockey master" Derek said popping his collar I had been taking a sip of my water when I choked at his comment and spit it out across the table onto him

"Gross" Edwin and Lizzie yelled at the same time

"Cool" Marti exclaimed cheering

"Casey are you okay?" Mom and George asked

Derek just sat there for a second and began wiping his shirt where I had spit on him "Now Derek I'm sure that was an accident Casey didn't mean to spit all over you" George started trying to diffuse an argument before it happened

"Uh I'm sorry it must have gone down the wrong pipe or something" I said not looking at Derek

"Yeah or something" Derek said still wiping his shirt "don't worry about it I needed a shower anyway" I looked up at him surprised at his calmness he smiled at me and gave me a quick wink

After Dinner I helped mom wash the dishes and then I went to my room to get ready for bed. I decided to check my email before climbing into bed. I signed in and had a few emails from Emily and at the bottom of the list was an email from Hockeymaster I opened it wondering what it said I hadn't responded to the last email so I was surprised I had received it. It was short but to the point.

"_True love is when you put someone on a pedestal, and they fall - but you are there to catch them"_

I stared at the screen for a moment. It was him. All of my suspicions and hoping it was Derek but it really was him. I mean how could it not be the comment at dinner and then this? It was definitely him. Outside my door I heard Derek joking with Edwin and then I heard his door close. All of the sudden before I could think I was up and walking towards his room. Before I knew it I was barging into his room without knocking. He had been sitting at his computer and stood up quickly when I walked in.

"Uh hey Casey. What's up?" He said looking at me like I was crazy

I walked to where he was standing "well you see I wanted to ask you something" was all I said and quicker then I could convince myself not to; I grabbed his shirt pulling him towards me and I was kissing him.

He seemed shocked. He stood there stiff unmoving for a moment with his hands at his sides and then just as I was about to pull away he softened and placed one hand on my waist pulling me towards him and the other he brought up to my head, running his fingers through my hair. This kiss was not like the first one. It was heated and full of passion. That kiss said everything I had been feeling for him and everything his letters made me feel. It just felt right. We stood there kissing for a few minutes and then I slowly pulled away kissing him softly one more time before turning and walking out leaving him with a dazed look on his face.

I rushed back into my room and plopped down at my computer breathing heavily shaking my head in disbelief at what I had just done. Suddenly I heard a dinging noise coming from my laptop telling me I had an instant message.


End file.
